


Black Vanilla

by BlazersEtc



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Coffee Shops, M/M, Tattooed Jace, muscle cars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-20 00:30:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11909451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlazersEtc/pseuds/BlazersEtc
Summary: Jace is a bad boy who works at a chop shop and Alec is a translator just trying to get through life without too much drama.  What happens when they meet at Alec's favorite coffee shop?[Part of the Jalec Gift Exchange]





	Black Vanilla

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zombiejuju](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zombiejuju/gifts).



  
Alec isn't staring.  He's not.  In fact, Alec is very busy translating a document from English into Spanish that's due tonight, he's just...taking a small break.  Alec's favorite place to translate was at a small coffee shop in Brooklyn called _Café Grumpy_ , though it looked nothing like one would assume from its name.  It's pumpkin colored walls and hardwood floors gave the shop a warm and welcoming feel, and the lack of hipsters let Alec breathe easier.  In fact, there were only a few others in the shop right now, unusual for a Tuesday afternoon, but then again it was raining and cold and that always seemed to put a dampener on things' even New York had its quiet moments.

  
His most recent coffee refill had long since gone cold and Alec couldn't keep his eyes on the page...mostly because they kept drifting towards the ass of the man at the counter.  Usually when the bell above the door chimed Alec didn't bother looking up, he had too much work to do to bother people watching, but for some reason today he'd just needed a second to rest his eyes from the words on the page and when he looked up he'd been met with an angel; or possibly the devil from the looks of him.

  
The man was tall, though shorter than Alec's own form, his well built frame was covered in an expensive looking leather jacket and skinny jeans.  A hint of a tattoo was poking out the collar of the man's jacket but as Alec's eyes followed it he found the ink disappeared beneath the leather.  He was pure sin and Alec's mind went thirteen dirty ways at once.

  
It had taken Alec a moment to collect himself after spotting the man but he'd gone back to work, translating from document to document.  It took Alec hours to finish his work, typing the final translation up on his laptop, submitting it only moments before the coffee shop closed; and when Alec closed his laptop he was surprised to see the blonde from earlier sitting on one of the couches.

  
"Deadline close?" Clary's voice broke through Alec's thoughts and he looked up to see the redhead holding a steaming hot to-go cup of coffee.

  
Clary was a barista at _Café Grumpy_ , and one of the only people that Alec talked to when he was here.  Usually, someone talking to him while he was working was enough to set him off, but Clary had a way of checking up on him that reminded him of the way his sister would, and he could never seem to say no to her when she asked if he needed a refill.

  
"Just handed it in. With a few minutes to spare." Alec took the coffee from Clary gratefully, looking up as the door chimed and noticing the blonde leaving.  Alec felt a twinge of disappointment but quickly pressed it down, he didn't have time for things like relationships and it's not as if a guy like that would be interested in him anyway.  Instead, he took a small sip of his coffee, effectively burning his tongue.

  
"Well that's good to hear. I'm surprised you were able to finish it with all your oogling." Clarys' voice was teasing as she took the seat across from Alec, who frowned in response.

  
"I have no idea what you're talking about."

  
"Oh sure, I guess that's why you're blushing?" Clary grinned, knowing she'd caught Alec's staring earlier.  Alec huffed, setting his cup on the table and grabbing his laptop and shoving it in his bag as he spoke.

  
"I'm not blushing, I just burnt my tongue."

  
"Uh huh. Whatever you say." Clary leaned back in his chair, a grin on her face. "He's my next door neighbor. I've been trying to get him to come here for ages but he keeps saying he hates these 'hipster coffee places'. Figures the first thing he would order would be a Vanilla Latte, I mean really, you can't get more typical than that." Clary chuckled, "Well, besides the black coffee for the brooding writer." Clary teased, kicking Alec's foot playfully under the table.

  
Alec met her grin with a glare, tossing the strap of his bag over his shoulder. "Ha.Ha."

  
Clary rolled her eyes, smile still on her lips, she'd gotten used to Alec's personality long ago. "Have a good night, Alec."

  
She pat him on the arm before disappearing behind the counter to start cleaning up the shop.  Alec dropped a tip for her on the table before stepping outside into the cool night air of New York.  Fall had begun and the night air was chilly but Alec welcomed it, he'd much rather have the slight chill than the heat of summer (with its lack of AC in the subway) any day.

  
As he stepped outside he spotted the same blonde from earlier, sitting at one of the small tables outside of the shop.  He was absorbed in his notebook, his pencil moving smoothly across the page and Alec couldn't help but stare.  The man's image screamed 'bad boy', the type that you avoided at all cost because they were probably dealing drugs on the side and breaking hearts; but the way he moved, that was graceful and almost gentle.  The man put his pencil down for a moment and when he looked up his eyes met Alec's, he offered Alec a smile and Alec froze in place, confused as to why this beautiful stranger would be smiling at him.  His throat felt tight.

  
"You alright?" The blonde asked, giving him a concerned look when Alec didn't reply to him, standing to move a little closer.  It was in that moment that Alec realized why his throat was feeling tight, in the man's hand was a cigarette.

  
Alec bolted without another word, coughing as he went.  Really, did every bad-boy cliche have to smoke? Alec only stopped moving when he was on the subway, taking deep breaths of the stale air to try to clear his lungs.  Damn allergies were the biggest cock block.

______________________________

  
It's a week later that Alec goes back to the Café.  He's been given a project to translate and after being locked up in his apartment for several days he needs a change of scenery, even if he'll be buried in his book when he gets there.  So he snags a black coffee and his favorite spot by the window and starts to translate.  He's on his third cup of coffee when a smooth voice breaks through his concentration.

  
"I don't know if anyone's told you, but running away from people is quite rude."

  
Alec's head snapped up and his eyes are met with that of the blonde angel from last week.  Alec had been so busy staring at his overall appearance that he hadn't noticed the boy's eyes; Now however, he feels like he's drowning in them.  They were unlike any Alec had ever seen before, both deep brown, warm and inviting but one held a splash of blue, so stark it was like jumping into a cold pool on a hot summers day.

  
When Alec finally snapped back into reality he realized something else about the man he hadn't last night-he now had blue streaks in his hair.

  
"I don't know if anyone's told you, but smoking is bad for your health and some of us are allergic to it."

  
Alec hadn't even thought about his response, usually people made fun of him for his allergy so he tried his best to keep it quiet, but somehow he felt like he didn't need to filter himself with this man.

  
"Yeah, just like Clary is allergic to early moring workouts." The blonde rolled his eyes, crossing his bare arms over his chest.  The leather jacket was gone in favor of a grayish-blue muscle tee and Alec could see that the tattoos not only occupied the man's neck, but his arms as well.  Intricate patterns were inked into the skin and Alec suddenly wanted to know what each of them looked like. 

  
"No, as in I have a hard time breathing and I get sick if I'm around it."  Alec's eyes were hard as he glared up at the man, fingers gripped tightly around his pencil.  He hated these types of people, the ones who acted like allergies were made up, though Alec couldn't imagine why someone would make up an allergy, it made life so much more stressful.

  
"Oh...you're not kidding?"  Suddenly the man's face looked remorseful and he took a seat across from Alec who briefly considered dumping his hot coffee refill across the man's lap.

  
"Sorry. When you ran off last night I thought maybe you were disgusted by me or something. I figured I'd give you a little lesson in treating people nicely even when you don't like them but...guess it's me who's the asshole."

  
Jace looked sheepish, a dazzling white smile lighting up his face.

  
"Name's Jace by the way. I'm guessing by the books and the broody look you must be Alec? Clary talks about you a lot." Jace crossed his arms and sat back in his chair, a picture of ease, and Alec couldn't help but stare a little dumbfounded; Why was this man still talking to him?

  
"Yes, I'm Alec, and I'm also busy. I have a deadline that I have to meet." Alec pointed to his notebook with his pencil as if to say 'and you're keeping me from it.'

  
"I'm sure you can spare five minutes."

  
Alec rolled his eyes, obviously Jace wasn't going to leave him alone. "Fine. Five minutes but I'm allowed to ask whatever I want and you have to answer honestly. Deal?"

  
"Bring it." Jace grinned, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table.

  
"Fine. Obviously you have no respect for deadlines, so where do you work that you don't have to meet deadlines of your own?"

  
"Chop shop." Jace answered easily, "Some racing here and there but I like to keep that off book." Jace winked and Alec rolled his eyes, great, someone else who didn't think rules should apply to them.  Just what Alec needed on a day like today.

  
"Of course you do." Alec bit back, narrowing his eyes at the boy across from him, a boy who seemed unfazed by Alec's snark.

  
"And let me guess, you're a starving artist working on his latest novel?" Jace nodded his head to Alec's laptop and notepad, "You look like a history type, maybe a little erotica thrown in when the audience least expects it."  Jace let his eyes roam over Alec's form, "At least some neck kissing and groping."

  
Alec's eyes went wide at the suggestion, flushing lightly at Jace's wandering eyes before he huffed, "I'm a translator. I'm translating a company issued training manual from English to Spanish."

  
Jace's smirk widened, "You speak Spanish?"

  
"Sí. Y voy a enviarte a España yo mismo si no te callas." The language rolled off Alec's tongue easily without too much thought, a simple action for him, but Jace was mesmerized.  He'd heard Spanish many times while racing, his buddy Hernado had even taught him a few select words, but it had never sound as absolutely wonderful as it did from Alec's lips. 

  
Alec took a sip of his coffee and Jace blinked, snapping out of his daze with a grin.

  
"Very sexy."

  
Alec flushed, ducking his head to look at the notepad his hand was resting on.  He had meant to get rid of the blonde but it didn't seem like that was going too well and if this kept up Alec was going to melt from embarrassment.

  
"If you say so." Alec shrugged, trying to play off his embarrassment, his eyes looking at the text in English but unable to focus with Jace watching him.

  
"Tell you what." Jace stood, pushing his chair in before moving to lean over Alec's shoulder.  His lips barely brushed Alec's ear and Alec could feel his heartbeat pounding in his chest.  Jace's fingers hovered over Alec's keyboard, "If you ever want some relaxation," Jace began to type an address into the document, "just come find me."

  
Jace was gone as soon as he came, leaving Alec at a loss for words at staring at the spot Jace had vanished from.  Alec must have been lost in thought because when Clary came up with his refill he almost jumped out of his skin.

  
*******************

  
Alec isn't sure how it ended up like this.  Jace had been an annoyance, a walking fantasy that Alec had dismissed because he didn't do casual sex and Jace was a heartbreaker; but somehow Jace had slowly wormed his way into Alec's life and now Alec was addicted.  Which is how Alec found himself bent over the hood of Jace's black Stingray Corvette in the middle of the woods, moaning Jace's name as the blonde fucked into him.

  
"Shit, Alec." Jace breathed, tightening his grip in Alec's hair and leaning down to kiss at the skin of Alec's neck.

  
Alec hadn't planned for this, in fact, if someone had told Alec earlier today he'd be in this position he would have laughed and pointed out that he would never attempt public sex; but now here he was at what Jace had dubbed his 'special spot' being fucked into oblivion.

  
"Jace....fuck, harder." Alec rocked his hips back trying to chase down the pleasure building in his stomach.  Jace slid his hand from Alec's hair to wrap around his cock, nipping at the skin of Alec's neck, a weak spot Jace had found pretty early on in their relationship.

  
"So gorgeous like this." Jace breathed, biting down on Alec's shoulder.  That was enough to send Alec over the edge, yelling Jace's name as he came across the hood of Jace's car.

  
He really wasn't sure how it had happened like this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alec blinked up at the stars, his and Jace's hands clasped together between them on the blanket Jace has spread across the hood. The spring night was chilly and Alec was thankful that Jace had thought this through enough to bring blankets.  They'd both been silent for a while now, each in their own little world but staying connected through their touch. It was one of the things that Alec liked so much about Jace, they didn't always need to talk.  It was Jace who broke the silence, though it was just as soothing to hear his voice.

  
"You're the only person who's been here." Jace's voice was quiet, vulnerable, a tone Alec hadn't heard too much of before; Usually Jace was all bravado and snark.  Alec turned his head and was met with Jace's gaze, looking nervous and unsure.

  
"I know you probably thought this was my makeout spot or something but it's not. It's...when I was kid my parents died." Jace's tone was quiet, seemingly lost. "We used to go camping near here when I was little and I found this spot during one of our hikes. When they died I was put into foster care. No one really cared when I came or went, as long as I brought home money there were no questions. I used to come here after school or when the foster home was too loud. I never told anyone about this place....until you."

  
Alec leaned over, kissing Jace softly before leaning his forehead against his own. "Thank you for sharing this with me."

  
Jace's cheeks tinged red, a rarity for the boy.

  
"Alec...."

  
Alec hummed in response.

  
"I love you." Alec had never heard the words before and he looked up in surprise.  before a grin spread across his face.  

Alec had never heard the words before and he looked up in surprise.  Jace had been very careful to avoid the 'L' word, seemingly uncomfortable when any conversation moved on from teasing to anything too emotional.  It frustrated Alec, especially when he wanted Jace to know how much he cared about him but couldn't for fear of pushing him too far too soon.  Now however, he was hearing the words he'd been dying for and a grin spread across his face.  

  
"I love you too, Jace."

  
Jace's face broke out into a wide smile in response and he leaned in to kiss Alec passionately.

He could definitely get used to this. 

**Author's Note:**

> Sí. Y voy a enviarte a España yo mismo si no te callas. Means "Yes. And I'm going to send you to Spain myself if you do not shut up."


End file.
